Oregon has a dirty secret. Tucked away along the Columbia River near Boardman, Portland General Electric's coal-burning power plant is poisoning your air and water and damaging the climate.

That Boardman coal-fired power plant is the largest source of global warming pollution in Oregon, and one of the largest on the West Coast. Coal plants like PGE's are driving climate change. Our only hope of reducing the amount of carbon pollution in our atmosphere to a safe level is that we stop burning coal as soon as possible.

But the dangers of coal go beyond climate change. The Boardman plant spews mercury, lead and other toxins into our air and water, causing asthma, heart attacks and cancer. The plant dumps toxic coal ash into ponds that feed into our water supply. Last year alone, farmers drew almost a half a billion gallons of ash-contaminated water from a reservoir near the plant to use for crop irrigation and on nearby animal feedlots.

There are about 650 coal plants in the United States. Each has its own dirty secrets -- stories of grandparents and children who suffer from asthma and lung cancer. Each causes climate change.

To prevent a global crisis, we need to begin closing coal power plants and replacing the electricity they provide with clean, renewable energy from the wind and sun.

That won't happen overnight, but Oregon is a great place to start.

The Boardman plant is obsolete. Energy efficiency and clean energy like wind and solar are thriving in Oregon, and could easily replace Boardman on the grid. For evidence of that you need only drive west from Boardman. The horizon is dotted with the revolving blades of the Columbia Gorge's many wind farms.

It's time for Oregon's governor to stand up and call for an end to Oregon's dirty secret. The state's Department of Environmental Quality has been deliberating over whether to close Boardman, but nothing will happen until Gov. Ted Kulongoski -- or the two major candidates currently vying to replace him -- stand up and show real courage.

We know of the perfect opportunity for them to do so.

On 10/10/10, tens of thousands of people around the world will take part in a Global Work Party. In the Maldives, they're putting up solar panels on the president's office. In Kampala, Uganda, they're planting thousands of trees, and in Bolivia they're installing solar stoves for a massive carbon neutral picnic. The goal of the day is not to solve the climate crisis one project at a time, but to send a pointed political message: If we can get to work, our politicians can get to work, too.

In Portland, hundreds of people will get to work on their own low-carbon lifestyles at a free bike repair workshop. From there, we'll leave for a "Roll Against Coal" a bike rally calling on our leaders to get to work themselves by shutting down the Boardman plant.

We'd be honored if the governor joined us for a ride. His support for an immediate closure of the Boardman plant would secure his legacy as a hero for Oregon's people and environment.

Both candidates to replace him, Democrat John Kitzhaber and Republican Chris Dudley, are invited to the party, too. This issue isn't about partisan politics. It's about protecting our public health and our future. Any candidate who wants to be Oregon's governor should join us in calling for the closure of the Boardman coal plant.

People of Portland will get to work to solve climate change on 10/10/10. Our current governor, and our next one, should join us.

Robert Kugler is a professor of religious studies at Lewis & Clark College. Phil Radford is executive director of Greenpeace USA. Bill McKibben is an author and a founder of the organization 350.org.